Tuesday, November 30

Groupon and Google

Rumours were flying yesterday that Google was buying Groupon. I'm not sure that it ever got completely validated, but those in the know certainly seem to think it's true. Today the reports are flying in on purchase price and some of the details.

Groupon seems to have come out of no where. I've had it on my list of topics to blog about for a couple of weeks now, mostly because I've had so many people ask me what it is. I wasn't even sure myself at first.

It's basically a deal site with a particular focus on local services, food, and entertainment --- meant for sharing with personal networks on social media. It's caught on like wildfire, so it's no wonder that Google would be interested. Puts them into position to add even more value to their brand experience, giving them more ties to local needs through search and incentives. I love it. The deals are quite significant, again totally meant for sharing, providing reach that local businesses just wouldn't have been able to get before.

Makes Google even more of a local service provider. Smart.

You have to register with the Groupon site, and then you receive email blasts of all the local deals available including pass along incentives when you share with friends. Try it! If you want a quick tutorial, click here.

Whether the sale goes through or not, this is certainly not the last bit of buzz on the quickly growing Groupon brand. They've crafted quite the experience and provided significant value for their consumers, on a local level, two things that should create some long term success for the brand.